Curated OER
Poetry of the City
Learners explore Walt Whitman and about poetry. Most importantly, it teach them that poetry is something anyone can write and encourage them to tell the story of their own community in verse
Curated OER
VH1 Driven: Jamie Foxx, Lesson 3
Students examine the blues, poetry, the Harlem Renaissance, and the 12-bar blues form. They watch a segment from the video, "VH1 Driven: Jamie Foxx," participate in a class discussion, and listen to songs by Ray Charles and a poem by...
Curated OER
"Music Be the Food Of Love": Found Poetry with Shakespeare and Hip Hop
Students create found poetry using lines from hip hop songs and Shakespeare's plays. They try to rewrite the words to music so that more people can explain Shakespeare's plays. They discuss the results of the activity.
Curated OER
Memory of a Kiss
Third graders read, discuss, and memorize the poem "Jenny Kissed Me." as an example of lyrical poetry. They write a letter to Jenny reliving the memory of her kiss from an elderly person's point of view. They illustrate their poems.
VH1
Lesson 3: Behind the Movie Chicago
In small groups and then as a class, young musicians compare and contrast two pieces from the musical film Chicago. They pair up to look at the elements that make each piece similar and define the elements or arrangements that make...
Curated OER
The Texas Cowboy: Myth and Reality
Young scholars create "cowboy ballads" in this interactive, multi-day lesson plan. The cowboy is researched using various sources and class discussions. Students evaluate individual work at the end of the lesson plan.
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Instructional Routine
After reading "The Bullet," a particularly intense chapter in Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, class members listen to the Spanish and the English versions of "Dimelo" by Enrique Iglesias. They then discuss how the...
Curated OER
Oh, Say Can You See...
Learners explore the meaning behind "The Star-Spangled Banner." In this music lesson, students sing the first verse of the national anthem and watch several performances of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Learners define several vocabulary...
Curated OER
Cloud Haiku
Students listen as a haiku is read by the teacher, determining what season is being portrayed in the poem. Students work together as a class and create a model haiku, then complete a worksheet, completing their own poem. Students will...
Curated OER
A Round and A Round
Learners practice singing rounds in daily warm-ups for 2 weeks prior to beginning this composition lesson. Students incorporate movement to the rhythm of each syllable, discuss syllables of words and their relationship to note values and...
Curated OER
THE PEN VS. THE SWORD: LYRICAL RESPONSES TO A NATION AT WAR
Students brainstorm lists of songs that were written in response to American wars; consider the patterns in the lists they create.
Curated OER
Write a Song About American History
Students explore the historic background of the song, The Battle of New Orleans. Working in pairs, students research other historic events and write their own songs based on them.
Curated OER
Rap Music and Hip-Hop
Pupils explore rap and hip hop music. In this music and culture lesson, students experience the music of Will Smith in order to work on language and communication skills such as rhyming words, writing, and public speaking.
Curated OER
It's All Poetry to Me!
Fourth graders explore language arts by analyzing poetry styles. In this writing analysis instructional activity, 4th graders read several sample poems in class and identify similes, metaphors and other figurative language within them....
Curated OER
Geo Jammin' - Day 6, Lesson 20: Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here
Students use shape puppets to review geometry content. They take turns singing songs, reading students poems, reciting class bulletin board notes and choral poems. They prepare for their summative assessments through play and interview...
Curated OER
Connecting Poetry with Philanthropy
Middle schoolers examine the different types of poetic conventions. They write a poem about philanthropy using these conventions. They illustrate their poem with artwork of their choice.
Curated OER
A Call for Change
"Come gather round people, wherever you roam..." Bring the voice of Bob Dylan to your class with this lesson plan, which takes Dylan's song "The Times They Are A-Changing" and analyzes both the message and voice in the lyrics. Your class...
Curated OER
Life and Landscapes in the Classroom
Celebrating Robert Frost's birthday by engaging students in the sights and sounds of his lyrics
Curated OER
The Quatrain
Students analyze the quatrain structure and rhyming in the song, "Puddles". They use this format to create their own quatrain lyrics for a song then they share their song ang revise it.
Curated OER
Up From the Streets: Hip Hop as a Recognized Art
Students discuss the historical roots of Hip-Hop to the present as an example of an art form that arose from the street into popular culture. Emphasis is placed on in-class discussion and written reflections in this introductory lesson.
Curated OER
The Poetics of Hip Hop
High schoolers consider the role of rhythm, form, diction, and sound in poetry. In this integrated arts lesson, students discuss the attributes of poetry as they analyze Shakespearean sonnets, hip hop music lyrics, and poems by...
Curated OER
Under Joni Mitchell's Influence
Students view the AMERICAN MASTERS entitled Joni Mitchell: Woman of Heart and Mind, examine the concept of influence, and explore how Joni Mitchell and her work have influenced others. Students read, interpret, and analyze her lyrics by...
Curated OER
Hearts and Partners
Tenth graders explore, examine and study poetry within a variety of different strategies within this lesson. They review and discuss a diagram of the big picture of why it's importance to study, analyze and deconstruct poetry, so that...
Curated OER
FIVE LITTLE PUMPKINS
Students explore the rhythm instruments as part of a rhythm band to accompany the well-known poem, "Five Little Pumpkins." They study instrument names, playing techniques, and playing at the appropriate time. They study how to perform a...